The House sent a funding bill for Medicaid back to a House-Senate committee Sunday, leading to the prospect of a special session to deal with a Medicaid funding unless an agreement is reached by Monday's deadline.

On Sunday, lawmakers in the House and Senate presented funding bills negotiated in conference as they worked on final details of an approximately $6.1 billion state budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

When it came to funding the Division of Medicaid, one of the state's largest agencies, concerns were raised on the House floor about the $917.5 million bill not including the companion Medicaid technical amendment legislation.

At issue is that if no technical bill is passed, ultimately it could hand over the Legislature-controlled Medicaid program to the governor.

"Here we are at the last few days of the Legislature, tired and ready to go home, but I'm not too tired to give away my authority on Medicaid," said Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven. "Don't let them take our authority away. Do not fund Medicaid until we get a technical bill. Take our power back. I ask you to send this back to put a technical bill in."

House Appropriations Chairman John Read urged lawmakers not to recommit the funding bill, arguing it could kill Medicaid funding for the new budget year that begins July 1.

"I don't want to say I voted to kill Medicaid," Read said.

However, Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, stood up on the House floor; saying: "Can't we stand up one time for folks, for little children?"

Read seemed to take offense to Hines' comments.

"I have never turned my back on children," Read said. "I said you could kill the money for Medicaid."

But Currie said if a Medicaid funding bill isn't passed during this regular session, it can be done in special session.

"Get a technical bill," Currie said. "I don't want to be on the bad list of my people back home."

Senate Bill 2836, the Medicaid technical amendment bill, is in conference, but as of Sunday evening, the Senate hadn't provided the names of its conferees..

The House and Senate versions of the tech bill, which includes the entire code section for Medicaid and reauthorizes the division, contain opposing interests. The House bill includes provisions favored by the Mississippi Hospital Association, and the Senate bill allows more flexibility for the insurance companies that oversee the care for roughly 70 percent of beneficiaries.

The Medicaid tech bill has historically included a measure that allows the Legislature to tax health care providers, which the state uses to pull down certain federal matching funds. This year, that provision was separated into its own legislation, which passed and has already been signed by Gov. Phil Bryant.

Because the tax has been authorized regardless of the tech bill’s fate, the Legislature is protected from political backlash if the bill remains in limbo. But it could also mean the Legislature has less of an incentive to meet an agreement by Monday’s deadline.

This could give credence to the possibility of lawmakers relinquishing control of the division to the governor, a seat for which Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves is expected to run in 2019, but other politicos question the Legislature’s appetite for this kind of power grab.

Senate Medicaid Committee Chair Brice Wiggins said Thursday it is the Legislature’s intent to draft a conference report that reestablishes the division, but acknowledged the opposing positions of each chamber.

The sticking point of this year’s tech bill deals with a pilot project House lawmakers wanted to give Mississippi True, a provider-sponsored health plan made up of more than 60 local hospitals, to run the managed care program — a program hospitals have historically fought. In general, lawmakers, especially in the House, have questioned the program’s effectiveness.

House Rules Committee Chairman Jason White, R-West, said he believes Wiggins wants a technical bill, but White added: "The jury is out on his boss," referring to Reeves.

"Sen. Wiggins has met numerous times with Rep. White and other House members, and Lt. Gov. Reeves is hopeful an agreement can be reached by the deadline on Monday," Laura Hipp, a spokesperson for Reeves said.

Education

House and Senate conferees were still working to finalize the details of the state’s K-12 education budget.

Both chambers Sunday agreed to send the K-12 appropriations bill back to negotiators for further work.

A spreadsheet provided to House lawmakers showed that the spending plan for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which provides the bulk of state aid for Mississippi’s public schools, would remain level-funded at $2.2 billion.

Senate Education Chairman Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, indicated before heading into the Senate chamber Sunday that conferees had reached an agreement concerning an $8 million increase that House leaders had originally envisioned for a new funding formula.

Read said most state agencies will receive level state funding for the upcoming fiscal year, but some agencies will see a budget increase over the current budget year.

They include:

Department of Human Services, $69.5 million, increase of $18.8 million

Child Protection Services, $110.969 million, increase of $13 million

Department of Public Safety, $86.6 million, increase of $2.15 million. The amount includes an increase of $713,000 for the Medical Examiner's office.

Department of Corrections, $315.3 million, increase of about $10 million

Legislative Operations, $26.59 million, increase of $400,000

Colleges and Universities, $670.2 million, increase of $18.8 million

Community and Junior Colleges, $237.1 million, increase of $2.8 million

Mississippi Department of Health, $58.9 million, increase of $2.1 million